Home Affairs promises to speed up backlog of temporary residence permits

The Forum of Immigration
Practitioners (Fipsa) has
welcomed recent statements
by the department of home
affairs (DHA) about the
elimination of the backlog of
temporary residence permits
(valid up to five years, when
permanent residence can
be applied for), according
to Fipsa chairman, Leon
Isaacson, MD of Global
Immigration.
This would hit any foreign
employees of local companies
who were applying
for temporary permits from
SA. Isaacson told FTW that,
for these foreign employees,
it would be a great time
saving if they applied from
their home foreign country,
where the SA embassies/
consulates have quicker
access to the DHA. But if
they are in SA already, they
would face an extremely
lengthy wait.
“Our collective experience
is that many permits which
were submitted during 2009-
2010 are unaccounted for by
the department, and despite
resubmission of copies
together with the submission
receipts, many of these
permits remain ‘lost’.
“We further place on
record that there has been
a noticeable decline in the
standard of adjudication,”
he added, “and that a high
percentage of permits
(40-45%) are issued with
erroneous endorsements
– mainly incorrect dates,
incorrect workplace and in
some cases permits are issued
to the wrong person.”
This places the holder of
the permit in an extremely
difficult position, as they
may be considered to be
illegal if the status and
conditions differ from the
status ascertained by the
department’s inspectors or
police. Efforts to correct
these errors take a long time
and cause extreme prejudice
to the applicants and their
employers.
“We note that there has
not been a general directive
or public announcement
regarding the legal status of
applicants who have not yet
received the permits after the
30-day finalisation period,”
Isaacson said. “This would
allow them to commence
the activities for which they
applied while they await the
outcome of their application.
The result of this state of
affairs is that many applicants
have lost jobs, had bank
accounts closed and have
been treated as criminals due
to these delays.”
Fipsa has called on the
DHA to institute an audit
to ascertain how many
permits have been lost and/
or incorrectly issued, and
to allow applicants the
opportunity to approach
the department to have
their erroneously endorsed
permits corrected through an
expedited process, Isaacson
added.